IMPLEMENTING BOTHEREDNESS

A free webinar on how to bring the curriculum to life through stories, stance and pedagogy – and make it routine practice across a school.

What if more pupils genuinely cared about the learning?

Many teachers know the feeling.

You set up the lesson. The class is calm and compliant. The work is getting done.

But something's missing.

The pupils are 'on task' – well, most of them – but they’re not truly invested. The learning feels distant, abstract or imposed.

They may even ask the dreaded question - either out loud, or under their breath:

‘What’s the point of this?’

In our recent free guide Implementing Botheredness, we explored a simple but powerful idea. Botheredness is a way of teaching that brings the curriculum to life through stories, stance and pedagogy, so that learning feels meaningful, absorbing and worth the effort. Instead of delivering content cold, teachers frame learning in ways that invite pupils into the ‘great conversation’ of knowledge and ideas.

But there’s a second challenge.

Many teachers have experienced brilliant lessons or inspiring ideas that never quite become routine. A new approach is introduced, enthusiasm builds… and then practice gradually drifts back to normal.

That’s where implementation and improvement science come in, as we ask:

How do we turn good ideas into everyday practice?

In this free one-hour webinar, Hywel Roberts and Dr James Mannion will explore how these two ideas come together:

• The difference between engagement and investment in learning
• What Hywel calls the pedagogy of botheredness
• Why stories are psychologically powerful tools for learning
• How teachers can protect pupils into learning through stance and pedagogy
• Why great ideas often fail to spread or stick in schools
• Practical strategies from implementation science that help new practices become routine

You'll hear examples of classroom practice, including the use of narrative and simple techniques like ‘let’s say…’ story frames that help pupils step into the learning and care about what happens next.

Who this webinar is for

This session will be useful for:

• Teachers who want pupils to be more invested in learning
• School leaders looking to strengthen teaching and curriculum culture
• Trust leaders responsible for professional development and implementation
• Anyone interested in combining creative pedagogy with disciplined improvement

The ideas apply across primary, secondary and special settings, and across subject areas.

What you’ll gain

By the end of the webinar you will have:

• A clear understanding of what botheredness is and why it matters
• Practical examples you can try in your classroom straight away
• A framework for embedding these ideas across a school
• An invitation to explore the Implementing Botheredness programme for schools that want to take the work further

About the speakers

Hywel Roberts
Teacher, writer and storyteller, and author of Botheredness. Hywel works internationally with schools on imagination, enthusiasm and curriculum design.

Dr James Mannion
Teacher trainer, government adviser and author of Making Change Stick, specialising in learner effectiveness, oracy and implementation science.

Together they support schools to combine creative pedagogy with disciplined implementation, so powerful ideas actually take root in everyday practice.